


The Island

by MysticalShizz



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-27 07:31:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20042233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysticalShizz/pseuds/MysticalShizz
Summary: The Island has always been a safe haven for refugees, and has never sat well with the colonial powers of the world. Follow Serafina, a girl who hasn't seen the horrors of the world first-hand...yet.





	1. Background

We have been isolated for as long as we can remember. Not so much physically, as steady streams of refugees find solstice on our shores, but we are isolated in every sense that matters. We have been avidly thwarting the invasion attempts of the Burtish colonies for some time now. Our nation of refuge too much for the colonist powers to comprehend.

Our Queen makes sure that we are safe, that we are welcome, that we don't have to go back to the countries we spent so long running from. In a world plagued by war, a society like ours could be considered Utopia.

The world wasn't burning around us so long as we didn't acknowledge the flames.


	2. We Have Always Been Here

'Left arm up, search for a dip in the rock, use it as leverage. Right arm up, search for a dip, use it as leverage.'

There were only 10 feet until the top. Serafina's arms burned with the effort. Every movement enhancing the thought of abandoning this endeavor. 

'No. Only 6 more feet.'

A twinge in Serafina's left arm almost forcing her to jerk back, but the five story drop lurking in her mind causing her to ignore the muscle, ignore the darkening of her vision's edges. 

Finally, her right hand finds purchase on the top of the clocktower, and uses the ledge to pull herself up onto the horizontal roof. Sprawling onto her back, Serafina takes a moment to greedily suck air into her lungs, the exertion finally catching up. 

Sitting up, she stays seated and casts her gaze outward. Sees the town below her, winding roads curling around the buildings that seemed to multiply every time Serafina found herself on top of the clocktower. The Queen's palace sits at the northern edge of the town, an air of mystery surrounding the structure. While Serafina was forever indebted to her majesty, any talk of the elusive Queen piqued Serafina's interest. Giving the island a brief once-over, Serafina scooted toward the ledge of the clocktower and let her legs dangle, trying to get a better look.

She has never left the island; it was safe here. No war, no famine, no monsters chasing after her. Serafina's family had sought refuge here years ago, fleeing from a nameless enemy - one that Serafina has never asked about. An enemy that still left her mother crying at night, muffling her sobs into a pillow to avoid waking the rest of the house. An enemy that still left her grandmother wandering the halls at all hours of the night, caressing scars that were gnarled and arbourous across her skin.

As she stares down at the town, lights dancing in her vision, she is drawn to the darkness brimming on the coast. Serafina can’t help but imagine that the darkness is corporeal, moving in an almost imperceivable way, bleeding into the edges of the town. Serafina has been afraid of the dark for so long, it’s almost easy to imagine each light flickering to darkness, the unnamed enemy from her people's homeland arriving to fulfill her mother's worst fears. 

Shaking her head, Serafina sees the town for what it really is: brightly lit, blanketed in sleep, protected by the guardians.

The guardians were as old as the island itself. Stationed in towers along the coast of the island, they were the last line of defense. Anyone could become a guardian, training usually began only days after an expression of interest. To be a guardian was to make a lifelong commitment, and with some of Serafina's friends either a full guardian, or in training to become one, she was intimately familiar with the process. 

From her perch, she could just barely make out the guardian towers, intermittent flickering of the lights almost blotted out by the trees, the towers as silent sentinels. Turning her gaze, she took note of the blue lights of the palace, the windows that lit up as the town slowly awoke, the way the darkness was banished as the first light of the day slipped over the horizon.

Content with knowing that the darkness wouldn't be around to haunt her for much longer, Serafina began the slow descent from the roof of the clocktower. 


End file.
